Bristol Restaurant The Ethicurean Gets Winter Residency on London’s Oxford Street

From Saturday 21 October, The Gardening Society at John Lewis will welcome its latest resident: The Ethicurean restaurant from Bristol will pop-up on the roof of the department store on Oxford Street for the winter. The restaurant’s residency will be the John Lewis’ last of the year, remaining in situ for the winter season. It follows Simon Hulstone’s Elephant, which was resident over the summer.

The Ethicurean, a celebrated West Country restaurant, which in 2015 was critic Marina O’Loughlin’s number 2 in the country, recently appeared on Channel 4 TV show Hidden Restaurants. “We are really excited to launch our new exclusive menu at The Gardening Society this winter,” said Iain and Matthew Pennington, owners and chefs at the restaurant. “We will be bringing a few of our favourite dishes from Bristol to London for the first time, including some iconic and hearty British classics which have been given a special Ethicurean twist.”

The menu looks promising:

• Victorian Scrambled Eggs: lightly scrambled eggs with Gentleman's Relish (anchovy) and toasted sourdough
• The Ethicurean Welsh Rabbit (rarebit); four choices: Star anise confit duck; hot-smoked arctic char; sauerkraut and caraway seeds; or Chinese leaf kimchi
• Tandoor Spiced Cauliflower, with soft hen’s egg, smoked paprika, almond and parsley
• The Ethicurean Christmas Pie: Venison and Pipers Farm bacon pie with port stout, buttered mashed potato and cider and juniper sauce
• Truffle and Porcini Mushroom Pork Sausage with buttered mashed potato, cider and onion sauce
• London Sticky Toffee Apple Cake: scrumped apple cake with Thames imported spices and cinnamon cream
• London Stout Pudding: steamed chocolate and London stout, “served with an inappropriate amount of cream”
• Almond Milk Sorbet with honeycomb and sour cherry

Background Bars will create a range of seasonal drinks during the winter residency which will sit alongside The Ethicurean’s bold British food. From 6 November, The Gardening Society aims for visitors to be “transported to a setting reminiscent of a yuletide village green.” It will also then be home to a resident rooftop pub, The Gardener’s Arms, where guests “will be invited to sing along to their favourite festive songs whilst enjoying a delicious warming tipple.”

More details can be found, and reservations be made, here.